Hi! So I have these really cute ladybug buttons I was given that I'd like to use on cards (looks like they were sold as embellishments not as real buttons based on the packaging), but they have this plastic loop on the back for thread to pass through rather than holes drilled through the button, so I'm wondering how best to use these buttons for cards since it definitely won't lay relatively flat like a normal button? My mom said she'd grind them off with a dremmel tool but I don't have one of those. Any ideas?
Barbara, you can cut off the loops with a pair of jewelry wire cutters, then sand them down level with the button with a fingernail file. There's LOADS of cool buttons for almost every occasion, they make great embellishments!
Thanx one and for sharing your suggestions. I have given away some really cute buttons because I wasn't quite sure how to cut the loop on the back off. Now does that snap or mar (sp?) the button?
Inky Huggz,
Missy Olson Angel #1754 North Branch, MN missy.ismyangel.net
I tried one button tonight. I forgot Mom had given me a package of flower buttons as well as the ladybugs, and so used the flowers since they were the first thing I found. I first tried Kare's pliers suggestion. Turns out the centers of the flower buttons are kind of rubbery, so they didn't snap, just bent. I then tried Stormi's wire cutter suggestion. I didn't have ones for jewelry, but the ones I had in the tool box did work. They didn't cut as close to the button as I would've liked, but close enough that the button will work if I use the thicker glue dots to attach them to the paper.
I will have to be careful because the centers are a separate piece from the petals and apparently the loop is what kept the two pieces together, so now that I cut the loop off, the center wants to fall out. Once the button is glued to the card, though, I think it'll be fine.
As to Missy's question, other than the cut mark on what's left of the loop in back, the button is not marred in any way, and looks like new from the front. I held the button in my fingers when I snapped the loop, and the wire cutters lay flat against the button when the cut was made, so they didn't mar the back at all either except for the cut marks.
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